Hundreds protest Trump and Musk in red McHenry County

A few hundred people protested President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Saturday in traditionally Republican-leaning Richmond and Harvard.

The two towns are in McHenry County Board District 8, which forms an “L” shape across the northern and western portions of the county, has many rural areas and is where Republican County Board member Tracie Von Bergen of Hebron beat her Democratic opponent last fall by winning every precinct in the district.

[ See more photos from the Rallies for Rights in Richmond, Harvard ]

But on Saturday, about 160 people each went to Richmond and Harvard to express their disapproval with actions of the Trump administration.

Pat Lawlor, the chair of the District 8 Democrats, said she signed up for the position in 2021 following redistricting and has “been working ever since to identify local Dems. They are here, just quiet, without banners in their yard.”

The group has monthly roundtables in Harvard, Richmond and Marengo, and Lawlor said the district is so spread out the three events are necessary.

“We have grown these Dem groups very much over these years. The craziness in DC has brought out rally goers,” Lawlor said Friday.

Debby Church of Richmond was wearing a chicken outfit to the protest in Richmond Saturday morning. Church felt Congress was not doing its job.

“I think they’re a bunch of chickens,” Church said.

Matt Kovar of Hebron held up signs in Richmond opposing Trump and the Musk-led DOGE.

Kovar held reading, “Not My President 34x felon,” “Doesn’t Offer Genuine Evidence,” “49.8% Not Exactly Mandate” and “Dork Operating Guillotine on Employees.” Among the issues that Kovar mentioned were treatment of Ukraine and Trump “ignoring the Constitution.”

While the protestors had lots of supportive honks and occasional expletives, one person, Mike Staab of Harvard, stopped by the local rally to show his support of the president. Staab said he didn’t know about the protest until he drove by and wondered just what protestors were resisting.

“This is who I voted for,” Staab said. He said he doesn’t believe kids can change their gender and wanted schools to teach kids “real things,” like math, but “nothing sexual.”

He said if the protestors could come and “raise hell,” he could too.

The protests in Harvard and Richmond were among those happening throughout the Chicago area and the United States Saturday. Some of the protests broached the fact that Saturday marked the 250th anniversary of the start of the American Revolutionary War, including a demonstration in Concord, Massachusetts, according to the Associated Press.

Lisa Springer of Woodstock said she is a Daughter of the American Revolution. She held up a sign that read “On this day, 250 years ago it began. On this day it begins again! Defiance til Death.” Springer said if she didn’t do what she could, her ancestors would be rolling over in the grave.

“I fight because my ancestors” fought, Springer said.